Love is: Learning to Love More
posted @ www.greendreammedia.com/blog
I have done the LOVE challenge for a month.
30 days of living from LOVE, I am the same person, I have the same direct and intense temper, refreshing since for a while I was afraid I will have to join the cult of Lulu Lemon outfitted blissed-out yoga teachers.
I feel happy, I get upset, some days I totally “know”, other days I am in a cloud of confusion: things have been similar to before, but what has changed is my perception and relationship to the situations of my life.
What has been echoing in my head is LEARNING TO LOVE YOU MORE, (which happens to be one of my favorite community art projects http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/)
This is what it is all about. LEARNING TO LOVE MORE. Learning to love me, you, nature, the world, life, more.
Lots of people have expressed the desire to do the LOVE Challenge, but hesitating if it will be possible. My friend e-mailed me:
“I’m trying consciously to love all more but I am not quite ready for the full experience, I would be too overwhelmed with all the bullshit in my work situation at the moment.”
I totally understand how committing to live completely from LOVE is daunting, if you think of it as a state that you have to remain in. I thought the same way before I started, but I wanted to share what I have understood so far.
Love is not some kind of perfect cage you lock yourself in, where happiness rules and all the worries of your daily life are secured at the distance of the metal bars. Love is a process, which happens here and NOW, in every moment. Like any process this one sometimes feels blissful, other times uncomfortable and challenging. Everything in your life all the people you love, the people you hate, the telemarketer you would rather never speak to, are helping you to learn to love more.
I have always been fascinated by the big trees in the West Coast. Those giant cedars started with a little seed in the forest. I am not asking myself (or you if you choose to join the challenge) to be a big tree. The LOVE CHALLENGE is about turning your attention to that seed, and committing to tending it. Once you commit to that, the growth happens by itself. But the growth is not a set state, it is a constant change that deepens your understanding. Every situation provides fuel for the growth, and helps you learn to love more.
I cannot go to my seed every day wanting it to be a big tree. I look at my seed in each moment, I learn to read the subtle signs and respond to its current needs. As the seed grows my understanding grows. The more I tend the more I understand. It only takes commitment and awareness.
Here I would like to say Sorry, if I have given anyone the wrong impression of what the LOVE Challenge is about. If you have already rushed and bought your Lulu Lemon yoga pants in the anticipation of joining the blissed-out population of yaga teachers, I would say: if that is the way you want to do it, go ahead, but it is not necessary. Just remember: be yourself and tend to your LOVE seed.
In the meantime I though of some simple ways to start the process: